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 About SLHA Library Publications Local History Archaeology Industrial Archaeology Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology |
Local History FeaturesSelf Publishing - Church Guide - Wrangle Charity School - Tips for L H Groups - Lincolnshire Floods - Chapel Survey - Lincoln's Town Crier - Canon C W Foster - Torksey - George Boole The Perils of Self-Publishing What do you say to someone who has written about a subject dear to their heart and is considering publishing their masterpiece? Here are some of the more important points to bear in mind when considering publishing a book which has a local rather than a national potential readership.  Having chosen an estimate add to it a suitable amount to cover any cost you might incur for the purchase of photographs or for employing an illustrator, the retailer’s percentage and other expenses. Be very careful to obtain permission to use illustrations that are not your own and acknowledge them correctly in the book.  Six copies must be put aside for eventual dispatch to the Agent for the Legal Deposit Libraries. It is a requirement of the Copyright Act 1911 that every book published is deposited with the British Library, the Bodliean Library, Oxford; the University Library, Cambridge; the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh; the Library of Trinity College, Dublin and the National Library of Wales.  As well as the cost of printing, a professional publisher, in order to arrive at the retail price of the finished book, will need to take into account travel, telephone calls, postage etc. These would typically amount to £200-500. A self-publisher will usually not be so meticulous in recording these items, but they need to be considered.  This brief account is simply intended as a guide and in practice a potential author needs to sit back and seriously consider what they are letting themselves in for. Perhaps the most important item, which I haven’t mentioned, is the content of the manuscript itself. We all tend to think our own work is of interest to others. Put bluntly but realistically it is rare for this to be the case. I have found that many authors of such material will not agree to editing. One must be prepared to have a manuscript read by several people from different backgrounds. My last book was read thoroughly by three people each of whom found errors and made suggestions. I also arranged for certain sections to be read by specialists in a particular field. (John Ketteringham, PhD, MBE, has written thirteen books, seven of which he has published himself. His books cover the people and local history of his native Lincolnshire, and church bells and bell-ringing, his particular area of interest and expertise. For more details of his books and other activities see his website: johnketteringham.me.uk) Writing a Church Guide Blyborough Here are some key areas to consider when researching the history of a church and writing a guide. TALK - to the Churchwardens - to retired Churchwardens - to the oldest worshippers - to ex-choir boys - to previous vicars and school teachers - and ASK them about their memories of church events, history and projects - and COPY any photographs that emerge. READ - old parish magazines - trade directories (such as White's) - Buildings of England volume for the county (Pevsner) - King's England book for the county (Mee) - Discovering Church Furniture (Shire Publications).  Boothby Pagnell READ (for a Lincolnshire village) - Monson's Church Notes, Lincoln Record Society, Volume 31 - Bonney's Church Notes 1845-48 (pub 1937) - Church Furniture by Peacock (pub 1866) - Diaries of Bishop Hicks, Lincoln Record Society, Volume 82 - Church and Society in Medieval Lincolnshire (Dorothy Owen), SLHA CONSULT - library collections (earlier church guides, illustrations, parish magazines) - archive material (parish deposits, vestry books, glebe terriers, wills, faculties) EXAMINE - church memorials (wall tablets, stained glass, other plaques) Brenda Webster Charity School in WrangleThe Lincolnshire Historian of 1963 printed this article - so much for sex equality! In 1555 the Rev. Thomas Allenson left his house at Joy Hill in the parish of Wrangle, Holland, Lincolnshire, as a Bedehouse for the poor of Wrangle and Leake, accommodation being provided for one poor man and one poor woman from each parish. A fifth member of the Bedehouse (and usually referred to as ‘the five poor people’) was to be a schoolmaster. The establishment was endowed with 30 acres of land in Leake and 21 acres 3 roods in Wrangle; and the field names are still the same after 400 years. The bedespeople had for their use the grounds of the house, called the Pingle, and the Bedehouse ‘two acres’ for their cows. Probably bearing in mind the rule of Leviticus 19 vv.9 & 10, whatever could be gained from the sale of the ‘aftergrass’ of the Pingle and two acres did not pass into general account but was distributed equally to the five members. Winter fodder was also provided by the endowment for the Bedehouse cows which had the usual grazing rights on the Common. The parish members each had two small apartments, one of which had a fireplace, but there was no free supply of fuel. The provisions of the will supplied each of the three men with 6d a week and the two women with 5d each. These amounts were unchanged until 20 May 1705, when ‘Mr. William Erskine Vicar of Wrangle, did his last will dated 26 April 1705 gave 9 acres of pasture adjoining to the 6 acres of pasture belonging to the Beadhouse nigh a Common called Seadikes for and towards the augmenting of the weekly pay of 2s 4d given by Thos. Allenson, Vicar of Wrangle to 5 poor people, members of the Beadhouse’. As result of this bequest, each member henceforward received a shilling a week. Note: The original four brick-built almshouses on Joy Hill have been converted into a two units and two additional post-war brick bungalows have been added. Pearl Wheatley, with additional information from Lincolnshire Almshouses by Linda Crust, published by Heritage Lincolnshire, 2002 Tips for Local History GroupsThe Society recently invited several local history and heritage groups to Jews’ Court to show the visitors the building, the shop and the library and to discuss ways in which the Society could help. Under the guidance of Brenda Webster (Chairman of the SLHA Team) there emerged a number of ways in which local groups could enhance their performance and progress. The suggestions may help others. 1. Hold a village walk/trail including a short history as introduction. Finish with tea in the village hall and add to the experience.  village magazine 2. Develop a website – involve the school and other local groups and societies. Add to the village website if one already exists.  Local History Magazine 8. National Monuments record offer Local Studies Resources pack for £15.00. It includes aerial photos, listed buildings, archaeological sites etc. Tel 01793 414600 email: english-heritage.org.uk/nmr Brenda Webster High Tides on the Coast of LincolnshireWe are warned that global warming over the next few decades may well bring about significant rises in sea level and threaten large areas of Lincolnshire around the Wash. Five years ago we marked the fiftieth anniversary of the severe floods along the east coast in 1953. Inevitably these events cause local historians to refer back to past floods of 1281, 1571 and 1810, and especially to Jean Ingelow’s famous narrative poem, ''The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire, 1571'. This is where difficulties arise. This poem is highly atmospheric, but it has to be remembered that it was written in the 19th century and is fiction, not fact!  Jean Ingelow, 1820-1897 Two aspects in particular seem to catch people’s imagination. One is the alleged tune played on the church bells, The Brides of Enderby. Although Mavis Enderby is a real place (not to mention the other Lincolnshire villages, Wood Enderby and Bag Enderby), and bells could be used to warn of danger (as was planned in World War Two), there is no such tune or peal of this name. It was just an invention that fitted the rhythm of the verse. I hope this will not upset the Canadian place which allegedly named itself after this particular Enderby reference! The second myth is that the tide came in as a really gigantic Eygre, or tidal bore – nowadays spelt eagre. There is no doubt that Boston-born Jean Ingelow conducted some research in preparing the poem (though sadly, not into bellringing!) and used accounts of the 1810 floods as the basis of some of her images. She may well have known people who remembered 1810, and an exceptional eagre is commented on in the Stamford Mercury at the time. This is the only reference to an eagre on the Witham although there used to be a modest one on the Welland at Fosdyke, and there is of course a well-known one that appears on the Trent near Gainsborough. More can be read about Jean Ingelow’s sources in the article by the late Chris Sturman and Valerie Purton in Lincolnshire Past and Present, No. 6 (Winter 1991-2) pp 3-6. A few more flood references are noted in No.10/11 (Winter 1992 -Spring 1993) pp 29-30 of the same magazine. Hilary Healey Chapel Survey : A Non-Conformist Heritage The listed Methodist Chapel at Hemingby The county is dotted with chapels, many of them derelict, some converted into houses, others into workshops or stores. How about the Society gathering enough information to commence a survey? Are you prepared to give us details of your local chapel? Is it Methodist (Wesleyan, Primitive, Free), Baptist or what? Are there interesting inscriptions (foundation stones, Brunswick, dates etc.)? Are there old photographs? If only half of our members respond to this we would have enough to get started.
SOME LOST CHAPELS IN LINCOLN: 
Lincoln's Town Crier John Foley, last Town Crier Handbells have been used to make announcements or call an opening of a market or other local activity as far back as Roman times. The City of Lincoln always had a bellman until 1898. It was an appointment by the City Council. Many wills lodged with the Lincolnshire Archives record bequests for the remuneration of a bellman. One example was the will of Thomas Palfreyman in 1552 'to the belman of the Citie of Lincoln iiiid (four pence)'. The last crier, John Foley, died in 1898. He was also Mayor's Officer, Sheriff's Officer and Keeper of the Guildhall. He must have been quite a character since a biography of him notes 'more than one occupant of the Mayoral Chair had found it to their advantage to make a friend of him'. The role of Bellman or Town Crier was introduced again nearly 100 years later in 1989 and now the local occupant of the post regularly competes with others nationwide for the best crier of the year.
Canon C W Foster's contribution to Lincolnshire's HistoryIn 1989 the 200th edition of the Victoria County History of the counties of England was published. To celebrate the event SLHA arranged a series of lectures at Jews' Court on Lincolnshire historians. Dr Kathleen Major's contribution was on Canon C W Foster and Sir Frank and Lady Stenton. This and twelve similar lectures were published by the Society in a book entitled: 'Some Historians of Lincolnshire'. (The book is still in print - see Other SLHA Publications.)  Charles W Foster (1866-1935) as a young man On Canon Foster Miss Major said: 'To him we owe the Lincolnshire Archives office and its associated Foster Library - the working library of a scholar so far as I know the finest collection of books in a provincial record office. We also owe to him the foundation of the Lincoln Record Society in 1910. Thirdly - and this may be less obvious - he first brought before historians of the church the fact that the history of the church cannot properly be understood without attention to the administrative and legal records of the daily business of bishops, archdeacons and parish priests.' When considering the many large collections with which Canon Foster dealt, the most striking in bulk is perhaps the series of Bishops' Transcripts of parish registers. He found these is a very dirty and neglected state but managed to sort and index them, despite difficulties with seven different Carltons, six benefices at the various Toyntons and seven at the several Kirkbys. George Boole (1815-1864) Boole plaque in Cathedral George Boole was a great intellectual and a great man of Lincoln. He was acclaimed a child prodigy in languages, became a professional teacher at the age of sixteen and won the equivalent of a Nobel Prize in Mathematics at twenty-nine. This was all achieved by a self-taught man without advanced formal education. Whilst running his own school in Pottergate, Lincoln, he published ‘The Mathematical Analysis of Logic’ which laid the foundation for his ‘Boolean Logic’ that underpins our modern technology. This led to his later work ‘An Investigation of the Laws of Thought’ which gave birth to much of modern ‘pure’ maths. It is also at the heart of the work which was used almost 100 years later by Claude Shannon and colleagues to make programming an electronic binary computer possible in the sense we know it today. Boole had no idea that would be the result of his endeavours; his was a pure ‘blue sky’ concern – to model thought mathematically. It is notable that Augustus De Morgan (1806-71), a correspondent and mentor to Boole, also tutored Ada Lovelace (1815-52) and was one of the few friends of Charles Babbage (1791-1871). Babbage invented the mechanical computer, and Lovelace the computer program. Sadly, neither of them met George Boole. If they had, perhaps the digital age would have been upon us a century earlier and Lincoln seen as the centre of it all!  Former Mechanics Institute, 1849 Boole was born on 2 November 1815 in Silver Street Lincoln. He was baptised the next day in nearby St Swithin’s Church. This was not the current magnificent church which was completed in 1887, more than 20 years after George’s death in 1864. The position of the earlier church can still be seen in the small green space between Bank Street and Free School Lane. This was an important place for Boolean Logic because the minister at St Swithin’s, Rev G S Dickson, was one of those who encouraged George’s mathematical endeavours by lending him a book on differential calculus. Another local person who encouraged George mathematically was Sir E F Bromhead of Thurlby Hall, near Bassingham, eight miles south of Lincoln. Bromhead was a patron of many notable ‘natural philosophers’ in the area. In 1816 George’s parents moved to 49 Silver St and this small area near the centre of Lincoln remained important to George throughout his life in the city. He went to an infants’ school in Mint Lane and later lectured to working people in the Mechanics Institute that was housed in the old Grammar School on Free School Lane, between what is now the library and the new St Swithin’s. George’s first school as proprietor was in the lane too. Unfortunately, almost every site which Boole would have known in ‘down hill’ Lincoln has been completely redeveloped at least once since his time. The Grammar School is one of the few places he would still recognise. George was largely self-taught in everything (which some say might explain his brilliance). However, his uncle was a schoolmaster with his own school on the High Street. Also, he received some formal education at a school in Michaelgate to the north of his boyhood streets. He started to assist the schoolmaster here when he was only thirteen. To the East of this a couple of streets over, at the foot of Steep Hill, was the Jew’s House, a reminder of the medieval Jewish community in Lincoln and its persecution. As a boy, George was mentored by a Jewish man and this is thought to have influenced his Christian beliefs and the basic assumptions of his Boolean Logic. To the south of the Jew’s House lived another supporter of the young prodigy, his first publisher, William Brooke. His shop was opposite St Mary Le Wigford Church on High Street. At fifteen Boole gained some notoriety when the local newspaper, The Herald published a poem that George had translated from classical Greek. Some readers refused to believe that such a youngster, especially one without formal instruction in the classics, could have produced it unaided. After a protracted period of public investigation, Boole was correctly credited with the translation. George began to publish mathematical papers in the early 1840s and soon was recognised by the most accomplished mathematicians as one of their best. The Royal Society gave him their coveted Royal Medal and eventually he was awarded top academic honours, despite never gaining entry qualifications for university. One wonders, if it had existed then, would the University of Lincoln have opened its doors to Lincoln’s home-grown mathematical genius? If it had, George would almost certainly never have left the city and his subsequent life in Ireland, his marriage and his five daughters might have been denied him.  Boole's school, 3, Pottergate, Lincoln  Plaque outside 3, Pottergate, Lincoln
 Boole's father's grave  The location of the grave
George’s friends and well-wishers gathered to give him a send-off dinner before he left for Ireland in late 1849. They chose to hold the commemorative evening in The White Hart hotel on Bailgate. Interestingly, he probably took advantage of the new rail link, built in 1846 to head west to Liverpool, where he had taught briefly two decades before. Fifteen years after leaving Lincoln, Boole died of pneumonia in 1864. This was the result of insisting on teaching whilst soaked to the skin by a thunderstorm.  Memorial window in Cathedral The major Boole memorial in England is the window and plaque in the cathedral. This was paid for by public subscription soon after his death was made known in the city. It is the fourth stained glass window in the North wall of the cathedral (on the left as you walk through from the main entrance). It is inspired by his commitment to teaching in the city. The University of Lincoln intends to celebrate Boole’s legacy during “BOOLEfest” every November, beginning in 2010. By 2015 the university hope to have worked up to a commemoration which will raise his profile within the city, the county, the country and the world. Based on text by Dave Kenyon of the University of Lincoln, in turn using original material from Des MacHale’s book: ‘George Boole’ (Dublin, 1985) and the biography of Boole by Eileen Harrison published on the following website: http://www.rogerparsons.info/george/boole.html. Photographs by Ken Redmore.
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